


The Amazing Trials of Captain Vulpes

by BrentKa



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Original Character(s), Pulp Science Fiction, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-05-04 19:17:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14599914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrentKa/pseuds/BrentKa
Summary: Reality crumbles around Sonic and Tails as both are seemingly trapped in a world straight out of an old radio drama. Can our heroes face down the schlock and reconstruct their world before one overrides the other?





	1. Prolouge

**And now boys and girls alike, thrill to the amazing adventures of CAPTAIN VULPES! This hero of the future uses his wit and fantastic weaponry of the times to come, to combat the wicked Darkmind and his horde of evil abominations!**

**CAPTAIN VULPES will strike a blow for justice, and save the future. Bought to you by your good friends at Wizwow Confections! Delicious sugary treats guaranteed to put the pep back in your step. Your parents know that a Wizwow taffy, or chocolate bar is exactly the thing you need when you're feeling low, and you know there's nothing tastier.**

* * *

Tails woke up and faced nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing on the itinerary that particularly stood out, no odd weather patterns, the various scanners and devices scattered around his place at the Mystic Ruins were silent, by all accounts it was an average day.

In other words things were destined to go horribly, horribly wrong and the fox knew it.

While his paranoia was certainly high and away at this point, Tails never believed in running away from his problems. It was much more efficient to run _towards_ them, arms flailing in an attempt to scare them off. A little something he had learned from Sonic. One part of it was blind courage, the other hope that it would all work out in the end, and the largest chunk consisted of willful ignorance and delusion that they just might. Two parts optimism with a healthy dose of pessimistic doom to sugarcoat it.

Trying to pass the time, the sixteen year old kit curled up with a few good books. If nothing else, they helped him at least sort of forget the impending doom. Some confusing sci-fi novel he hadn't worked his way through yet, a biography on Billy Bishop, and a collection of Father Brown stories. Heck, even if today turned out to be a false alarm, at least he could get a good kick out of...

A loud buzzer interrupted him before he could so much as crack one of them open. Sighing, the fox made his way out of his bedroom as the buzzer sounded over and over again. Finally reaching the entryway he threw open the front door.

"Hey." Sonic stood in front of him. "Please tell me ya found something. Some major disaster, more robots, some guy in town selling bootleg DVDs...anything at this point."

"Nope." Tails shut the door.

"Not funny!" The voice came up from the other end.

"Would you relax? If anything came up I'd get a hold of you." Tails shot back.

Well that was an outright lie. You didn't _find_ Sonic he just showed up where he needed to be. Tails had it figured, it was hardwired into the universe somehow. For every action (That was remotely evil), there was an equal and opposite reaction (Sonic). Prower's Third Law of Hedgehogs.

"I swear if you don't open this thing, I'm bashing it in!" Sonic yelled.

"With what? Those dinner rolls you call feet?"

"That it! Prepare for..." There was a loud thump and several seconds of silence.

Tails sighed and opened the door to find the hedgehog nursing an injured foot. "'Alright, now wait a sec." The fox held up a paw before Sonic could get a word out. "Why didn't you just spin dash the thing into oblivion?"

"Wasn't think-" Sonic began.

"Really?." Tails growled at him. "Get in." He gestured furiously.

"You're nice and pissy today. Plane explode again?" Sonic glared at him as he stepped in.

"No." Tails shut the door. "And sorry about that. It's just...well you know. Nothing going on, average day..."

"It's okay, I'm on edge too." Sonic shrugged. "I keep expecting a comet to fall out of the sky and smack me into the ground or somethin'. Kind of takes the fun out of the morning run when you think everything's trying to kill you."

"Now see that's the thing." Tails pointed out. "Normally everything is trying to kill you."

"I know. And I can deal with that. Least I know where I stand. This though? I like peace, don't get me wrong but it's...No. Ain't gonna say it.

"Quiet?" Tails offered.

"Ain't gonna say it." Sonic's teeth were clenched.

"Toooooo quiet?" Tails broke out into a grin.

Sonic opened his mouth as if to say something but stopped and chuckled a bit. "You're really trying to tempt fate huh?"

"Wouldn't mind it. Like you said, least I know where I'd stand." Tails cracked his back. "But so far, no go. You want some coffffff..." The question died as he saw Sonic's expression. "Sorry. I mean hot chocolate?"

"What did I tell you?"

"It's not like I'm guzzling the stuff. Besides, unlike you I've done the research and there's no harm in..."

"What..did.. I..tell..you?" Sonic repeated the question slowly.

Tails sighed. "Caffeine is a cheap substitute for actual good 'ol runnin' on your own two legs and blah blah work out more blah blah blah something about chili dogs. You want the chocolate or not?"

"Sure." Sonic nodded as he followed Tails into the dinning room.

Well, the sort-of dining room, at least Tails liked to call it that because it sounded like he lived in an actual house rather than the multi-room garage his place actually was, and compared to most of his home it at least had some sort of effort put into it. Granted that effort had involved Amy breaking in at night and reorganizing the place, but the results weren't too shabby: fewer tools lying around on the floor, and the old table he had set up was finally clear enough for at least one person to sit at.

And therein betrayed Tails' awful secret. He liked stuff.

Oh sure, the random bits and gears lying around you'd expect to find. The books that practically served as his flooring in the bedroom were even alright. Again, expected. That's what geniuses did wasn't it? What usually stunned the rest of the group was the pure amount of junk he managed to accumulate.

Old movie posters randomly thrown up on the wall at odd intervals, plastic action figures dotting anything resembling a table or counter, half-forgotten Flicky seed scattered across the back porch, and photographs _everywhere_. Not just of Tails and the usual gang (Though that was a good chunk of it), but just of random things, old engines, some not particularly interesting bits of the Mystic Ruins, and what Tails preferred to call "glamour" shots of his various planes and inventions. And good Lord, no one wanted to mention the outdated electronics.

"That's an vacuum tube from the original UNIVAC." Tails would be prone to pointing out something that was left on the floor for all to step on, or even better, "One of the last remaining Sega Neptunes in the known world. No, it doesn't actually work."

In fact what had currently captured Sonic's attention was the large antique radio that currently dominated the dining room table.

"Uh, bud?" He called out. "What's with the Thirties bit? You gettin' all misty eyed for Depression and war?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." Tails voice came from the kitchen right beside the room. "Here, let me show ya something while we wait for this stuff to heat." He strolled back into the room and nearly dove on the radio. "See? It's not an actual radio anymore. Tweaked it a bit."

"Course ya did." Sonic looked unimpressed. "What'ya make it do, shoot lasers anytime someone messes with the volume?"

"No, but I'm marking that down for future reference." Tails grabbed a nearby pen and scribbled something down on a scrap of paper lying about. "Nah, they're ain't a whole lot of dramas or shows on our side of the hemisphere right?"

"Right. Most of the country gave it up when we realized it was more entertaining to actually...I don't know, see stuff?"

"And that's what makes us all lazy jackasses." Tails grinned sarcastically. "So, since I wanted the full on experience, this thing is really just an elaborate CD player. I've got some old dramas set up and some Big Band music added to it for flavor." In the background the microwave beeped. "And..." Tails left for the kitchen, keeping up the conversation. "It actually turned out pretty well." He walked out carrying two mugs of hot chocolate. "The best part is, if there's nothing on TV, I just switch the thing on, and spend my time moping about how there's nothing on the radio."

"Big improvement." Sonic yawned.

"It's not that bad." Tails slid a mug over to the hedgehog. "Here, let me show you one of my favorites." He flicked on the radio to nothing but static. "Wait...what the?" He turned another knob, and much to his chagrin the static merely reached a crescendo.

"Wait." Sonic took a sip. "Thought you said the thing didn't pick up signals."

"It doesn't." Tails raised an eyebrow. "That knob was meant to change CDs, not stations."

"Guess technical problems are better than this creepy feeling I've been getting all day." Sonic shrugged a bit. "So what do you think the problem is?"

"I've got no idea." Tails hammered on what he had intended to be the eject button to no effect.

"Well if you're gonna stick to the theme, couldn't you just turn the reaction knob?"

"I told you, it's not a radio!" Tails threw his paws up in frustration. "That knob's just for kicks, see?" He gave it a quick twist.

The unpleasant sound of reality coming to an end streamed out of the speaker.

* * *

" _Captain Vulpes was originally conceived of as a magazine serial by Bill Wesset in 1929. Building off the rising popularity of science fiction heroes, at first Wesset's creation was no different from the hordes of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon clones. Typical hero fights enemies in a hostile environment, that sort of thing. But the written serials still have their own little spark about them. No one knew what they were going to become, but you could see the seeds of a larger story arc being planted here and there. One of the more famous stories in fact "Rise of Darkmind" was one of the first real attempts by Wesset to try and portray the characters in a different light. Many fans and critics in fact regard it as the first of the so called 'Ten Trials' arc. It remains to this day, a forerunner to the later stories and most pop culture historians regard it as the key moment of development for the series. " -_ _The Complete Captain Vulpes Encyclopedia_ _by Jonathan Yulie_

* * *

"You didn't."

"It's a safety precaution. Besides, it's one of the fake ones that YOU rigged up. You really think I'd be able to sneak one of 'em out from Knux?...Okay, so a drunken toddler could probably do that but..."

"You DIDN'T."

"No, I didn't, you did by turning that thing on!"

"Okay, okay..let's just wait until the smoke clears. Then I can fix the thing up."

The mist gradually floated away, but instead of Tails' beloved but unorganized home, the scenery had changed somewhat.

"Ooo. Another large smoking crater." Sonic winced. "Sorry pal. But hey, at least this time I'M the one that blew it up."

"Uh..." Tails looked around and swallowed. "Sonic?"

"Yeah?"

"First of all, this isn't my place...or even a crater where my place used to be. In fact, I don't think this is even the Mystic Ruins."

"Really?" Sonic absentmindedly took another sip of cocoa, surprised to find that he was still holding the mug. "Great. At least this sets us up for a good run back home. Where are we? Dust Hill? Sandopolis?"

"From the looks of it, some sort of horrible godforsaken hellhole."

"Marble Garden?"

"...Alright, not quite that horrible, but the giant grotesquely disfigured eagles are a bad start." Tails pointed to the sky.

"Ohhhhhh..." Sonic dropped the mug as he looked up.

'Eagles' wasn't the correct term. That would imply that they were still recognizable by our standards. What currently flew up there looked like a half-cooked turkey dinner and an experimental airplane had somehow had a love child. The neck was far too short, the head completely invisible from the ground, and the wing structure so ridiculous, one could almost attest that they were positioned vertically rather than the structure of your traditional raptor. Add to the fact, that not only were the things bald, but were covered in some sort of thin light green film, and Sonic would agree: It was the second most disguising thing he had ever seen.

"That's just not right." The hedgehog clamped a gloved hand to his mouth. "They coming for us?"

"Given how this usually goes for us..." Tails nodded quickly. "Run."

Sonic dropped his hand. smiling a bit. "That, I can do." Grabbing the fox by the paw, he soon vanished, leaving a long dirt trail behind them.

"Holy crap, they're still following?" Sonic looked behind him. "It's been five minutes!"

"Rrrryrerreryr." Tails tried to get something out, completely failing, as he was jolted along the rough terrain.

"Keep your legs up. UP. I'll end up dragging you if you don't focus." Sonic didn't take his gaze off their pursuers. They were fast alright, nowhere approaching him of course, and he wasn't even going fast, but yeah, they could move a bit. Enough to where he knew if they were walking, the things would have rammed into them pretty hard.

"Now for the messy part. You gonna be alright if I let go?"

Tails tried to nod, only to get his head whipped back from the force of the wind. "Yeahhh." He managed to choke.

"'Kay. Gonna let you off easy, slow down but don't stop right away or it'll be like hittin' a cliff." Sonic let go as Tails gradually slowed down and became part of the blur surrounding him. _God, why can't they be mechanical?_ He thought to himself. Skidding to the side, he leaped directly for one of the birds just as it began the dive for Tails.

* * *

There was a reason he called it the messy part. The spin dash worked pretty cleanly on robots. Sometimes the oil leaked out all over you, but all in all he had gotten good at cutting the metal rather cleanly. Always nice, always precise. On organic things however, things didn't always end up so pristine. The blood wasn't even the worst part. Sure the thing looked nasty enough when you were done, but actually doing it, and feeling the skin give to the organs (And even more so feeling _those_ slowly shred to pieces under your own skin) made the hedgehog more than a little sick.

"Oh God, oh God, it's all over me." He shuddered as the remaining birds flew away at the first sight of a predator. Turning away, he choked a bit, in an attempt to try and ignore the smell.

"Easy there pallie." Tails was beside him in a flash, helping him up. "They're not followin' anymore and you'll be fine once we get to some water and clean ya up."

"I don't even want to know what it was I just cut through. _There weren't any bones_. All of it was just...urghkleop."

Tails turned away while he waited for the hedgehog to finish. "You gonna be alright? Need anything to drink?"

"Fine, fine." Sonic coughed a bit wiping his mouth off. "You sure there ain't any more of them around."

Tails put a paw up to his forehead and looked about the sky. "Nah, we're clear. Not that we're in a good situation though." He threw out his arms to the expanse surrounding them. "Good old fashioned wasteland! Nothing but dirt for miles on end! Not even a hint of sand, mountain or a freakin' cloud."

"The air's not right here." Sonic panted a bit. "Smelled it while running, it's weird, got a chemical twang to it."

"Robobutt again?"

"Nah, whatever happened to us we bought it on ourselves. And those things definitely were not up his alley."

Tails closed his eyes for a bit and tried to gain some space between himself and the ground.

"There's no wind." He stopped twirling his tails. "No breeze, nothing."

"Can you still fly?"

"Lift isn't going to be a problem, it's control." Tails sat on the ground. "If I don't have nothing to steer by, all I be able to do is go up and down."

"Yippie." Sonic sat down next to him. "So what now? Do we lie down and die or something?"

"No I can't. I've got a Flicky to feed." Tails sighed.

"Well drat. Guess that means we're going to have to figure out how to leave this paradise huh?" Sonic laid himself out putting his hands behind his head, his eyes willfully avoiding his stained quills.

"The fake emerald still works as an emulate right?" Tails looked at him. "Can't you get us out of here using your crazy zappy powers?"

"And you're supposed to be the articulate one." Sonic laughed. "No good, it's dead." He rummaged about finding the object and throwing it to the ground. "Not a hint of juice left in it. Whatever that stupid radio did, it took everything out of it."

"I still can't believe it was that thing that did it." Tails scratched a bit in the dirt. "It was nothing but a custom framework built over a CD player."

"Yeah, well I still blame you." Sonic yawned. "If it wasn't the radio, than for that hunk of rock you made."

"This thing?" Tails picked up the fake emerald. "It's nothing more than a copy, I was trying to figure out exactly how the emeralds transferred energy from one thing to the next. No harm in that."

"I think you tapped into something bad." Sonic stated flatly. "You ever think that pure solidified chaos is probably NOT the best thing to mess around with?"

"Oh, excuse me. Like you're the great master of self control when it comes to that. When's the next time you go all shiny huh?"

"It's different with me Tails. They...they work with me." Sonic tried to explain. "It's like when I try to fly the Tornado. I can _do_ it, but not the same way you can. It's not mine, ya know?"

"Well, whatever." Tails stared at the stone. "It's not like we're going to..." Squinting a bit he lowered the husk. "Hey!"

"What, what is it?" Sonic sprang up.

"There's a dirt cloud kicking up right in front of us. Looks like some sort of truck."

"Thank God." Sonic stretched a bit. "Well, wanna flag it down?"

"That depends," Tails looked a little scared, clutching onto the fake emerald for dear life. "On whether you mean actually flagging it down or..."

* * *

"THISSSSSS!" Tails yelled out as Sonic blasted towards the truck, fox in hand.

"Shut up, it's more noticeable this way."

"YES, WRECKING HEADFIRST INTO THE CAR IS MORE NOTICEABLE, I'LL CONCEDE!" Tails yelled out. "BUT IT'S HARDLY..."

The effect of the lecture was somewhat lost as most of the words came out of the fox's mouth as "Yswrcrntclecnd!" or at the very least a close approximation.

"Legs up, dangit!" Sonic flicked him in the head.

* * *

" _...Lily Maill was in fact based on Wesset's wife also named Lily. The fact that she remained Captain Vulpes' love interest for almost three decades outlasted the Wessets' own marriage which came to an end in the 1943. Lily Wesset later claimed that " [Bill] had driven himself into obsession. The radio drama was one thing, but the comic was another. He wasn't the same anymore, just working and working on all the Vuples stories he could write. It sort of felt like I lost him after that, he just wasn't the same."_

_Those that knew the Wessets noticed several discrepancies between Lily and her fictional counterpart, often bought in and out of the stories by Bill's whims. "If they were in an argument" One friend of the family remembers, "The next story he'd write about would have Lily Maill being submissive and weak. When she stood up and supported him, she'd snap right back to being smart and intelligent. I think it was sort of Bill's way of letting her know if she was 'acting' right or something. Poor girl, no wonder she left. Bill began to think of her AS Lily Maill." - -_ _ The Complete Captain Vulpes Encyclopedia _ _by Jonathan Yulie_

 

* * *

 

Lieutenant Lillian Maill was having a bad day.

It wasn't the fact that Johnnie had gone off again on another pointless mission, probably to save some poor starving race of aliens who had no mouths or something, it wasn't even the fact that the explosion had registered all the way out here in the Forsaken Desert. It was...was...

Scratch that. It _was_ those two things.

It got considerably worse when a blue hedgehog covered in spurts of blood, dragging some poor fox cub nearly collided with her truck.

* * *

"Freeze!" A voice came up from the truck.

They didn't. Tails heaved several breaths, while Sonic dug for something in his ear.

"I said free-" A raccoon girl wearing a blue jumpsuit sprung up from the car, aiming some sort of gun? Projectile? Thing? Whatever it was, it was a weapon and she was clearly aiming it at the two.

"We heard ya." Sonic waved her off. "Sorry to be rude, but we've had a really rotten day and we just want to go home. Mind giving us a ride?"

"You have my sympathy over the rotten day thing." The racoon kept her gun pointed at them. "But what do you mean by home? If you're from Topia, how'd you get all the way out here?"

"A radio, the mystic powers of chaos and a cup of hot cocoa." Sonic rolled his eyes. "And we're not from wherever. If you haven't noticed, forgive the blood, I'm Sonic The Hedgehog."

"Just 'the Hedgehog'? They didn't bother giving you a last name?"

"What'ya mean just 'the Hedgehog?' I'm THE Hedgehog." Sonic grew agitated.

Tails slapped a paw to his head. "You've got to forgive my friend. His ego won't let him consider that there's people who don't know him."

"Used to that one." Lily nodded. "And what about you?"

Standing straight upright, and curling his upper tail behind his back, Tails tried not to give away the obvious just yet. "Miles Prower. Call me Tails, Foxboy, Ishmael, or anything that doesn't involve the name 'Miles'."

The raccoon squinted a bit. "Closer."

"What?"

"You're hiding something behind your back. Step closer."

Cursing slightly, Tails stepped forward, letting the tail fall back into position. "Alright you got me, I'm a bit of a -HOLY..." He dove out of the way as a small beam came flying at him.

"Hell! Never met one of ya that could talk." The girl grew a dark grin on her face. "Let's see if you can dance too..."

"How about a tango?" Sonic suddenly came from behind her, and twisted her arm, forcing her to drop the gun. and putting her into a hold "I can lead, if you want."

"But you didn't..." The raccoon choked. "You didn't m-move..."

"Oh, I did." Sonic assured her. "Now why are you trying to blast my little bro into ground meat?"

"H-He's a Mindset! He'll kill both of..." Her eyes grew wide. "Dammit, you're one too ain't ya?"

"Listen." The hedgehog twisted her arm a little tighter. "We're not what you think we are, because that sounds bad, and we're not bad guys are we Tails?"

The fox shook his head. "Mindset though? Couldn't you be more original?"

"What? Look, just let go and I'll let you go. You can go crawling back to Darkmind and I'll leave you alone alright?" The woman tried to bargin.

Tails nearly tripped. "Darkmi-wait, what's your name?"

"You don't get to know nuttin' Set!"

"Does it matter Tails?" Sonic looked at him. "Let's just get her to take us back home and we can forget-"

Tails blinked a little. "Lily Maill."

The raccoon went completely slack, stopping her resistance against Sonic. "W-what? How did you know..."

"Lover of Captain Vulpes, Age- Nineteen. You were born in New St. Louis before Darkmind blasted the country into rubble."

"What the hell dude?" Sonic stared at him.

"Sonic..." Tails gulped. "I think something went reallllly wrong."


	2. Rise of Darkmind Pt. 1

**And now we once again return the fantastic future of CAPTAIN VULPES! Remember boys and girls, the adventures of our valiant hero don't just end with this broadcast! Be sure to read the new comic strip in your local paper. As always the Captain's journeys are bought to you by your pals at Wizwow Confections. Delicious, nutritious sugary snacks that everybody loves!**

* * *

This was so embarrassing.

Lily was used to being kidnapped, it happened on an almost monthly basis. Some Set would tie her up, and drag her off to Darkmind's, then the whole crew would come in and blast everything to pieces, rescue her, wash, rinse, repeat. What was odd about this one was that these Sets were obviously defective. There they sat in the backseat, both claiming to 'keep an eye' on her, but otherwise totally ignoring the raccoon, as she was forced to drive the truck to...well, somewhere she supposed.

This wasn't how it worked. She was supposed to be in the back planning in an escape or something, not chauffeuring her enemies directly into Topia. The Mindsets must've really gotten an upgrade since last time. A few months ago, they could barely shout the words 'We obey!' without nearly choking to death on one of the vowels. There were supposed to be mindless things that Darkmind just...commanded. This was all too terrible.

As she drove on, she began to listen into the conversation going on between the two.

"Standard dimension switch." The fox-looking one spoke up from the backseat. "Problem is this one isn't normal."

"Are they ever normal? Robot pirates? Cats that set things on fire with their minds?" The hedgehog Set chuckled. "I'm still trying to figure out that whole incident with the talkin' jelly beans."

"Okay, granted it isn't as weird as the beans, I'll give you that." The fox went on. "Look, you know the classics right? Flash Gordon, Brick Bradford, the old schlock heroes?"

"Let's see," The hedgehog tried to count on his glove. "One old time radio, plus one MacGuffin of raw power equals...great. We're trapped in crappy sci-fi pulp."

"Hey, watch it." The fox Set smirked. "This is Captain Vulpes. This is the big time."

"Oh, the one you used to collect Pez dispensers of." The hedgehog snapped his fingers. "Got it. So who's our lovely friend up there?"

"Already described that one to you. Lily Maill. She's the resident damsel in distress. Or started out as one anyway." The fox leaned up. "Excuse me, lieutenant. Mind telling us where you're carting us off to?"

"If I get a chance to, over a cliff!" The raccoon shoot back grumbling. "If you think I'm gonna let you Sets waltz into Topia and burn everything to the ground than..."

"Tails, miss. I'm Tails, he's Sonic. And we're not Sets. If we were, we'd be yelling out 'Hail Darkness!' and 'We obey!' every fifteen seconds. Notice how we've got minds of our own."

"You sure do _look_ like one. And what's with all the crazy running about your friend was doing?"

"Let's just say we're different." The hedgehog joined his friend, leaning up on the seat. "We're not from around here."

"Great." Lily stomped on the brakes, as the truck stopped almost instantaneously.

"Neat." The hedgehog or...Sonic whatever he wanted to be called raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Future tech's fun ain't it?" The mutant fox smiled.

Lily turned around to face them. "If you're what I think you are, it doesn't matter if you're Sets or not. I'm not going to lead you straight into town!"

"Yeah, said that already." 'Sonic' nodded. "She sure loves to drive the point home doesn't she?"

"Give her a break." 'Tails' pushed the hedgehog away a little. "She hasn't had decent character development yet. She mostly just stares and screams at things."

Growing furious, Lily slammed her paws on the wheel. "I'll have you know, that I am a fully registered officer of the Topia Peacekeeping Force! I've handled my fair share of Sets in my time..."

"Yeah, like two." 'Tails' mumbled.

"Seven!"

"And tell me, how many have you taken down since our good friend Vulpes showed up?"

Sitting mouth agape for a second or two, Lily desperately tried to recollect the many times she had helped her fr...

The many times she...

The many...the many...

* * *

" _...Lily started out in the same vein as the original Dale Arden, or reflective of the weaker moments of Wilma Deering. A strong woman on the surface, and really quite clever in most situations, but for the most part served as such a bland damsel in distress compared to her contemporaries that she was deemed uninteresting by critics, and mostly accepted by fans as the 'whining plot device' that Darkmind would continually kidnap over and over for no other reason described at first than to agitate and draw out Captain Vulpes._

_As the real Lillian gradually became more and more a part of Wesset's life, Lily Maill began to change. Nowhere is this more clear than in "Rise of Darkmind" which shattered the standard cold war plot that had been playing out in the early dramas and short stories. At this point, the lieutenant becomes an active force and a fierce fighter. In fact it's interesting to note, that by and large Lily Maill serves as the arc's main character, the viewpoint mostly stemming from her, in order to enhance the shocking changes that were about to happen to the character and mythos." -_ _ The Complete Captain Vulpes Encyclopedia _ _by Jonathan Yulie_

 

* * *

 

Sonic blinked a bit. "Ah, come on. Don't tell me it's night already. It was seven in the morning a little bit ago."

Tails looked up at the sad, bland sky as a not too particularly impressive sun began to set. "I don't think that's going to matter much here." The fox mumbled. Whatever kind of world they had ended up in, it was obviously going to play by it's own rules and that included night crashing down for drama at random times. It fit the bill for one of them anyway. Looking over at their 'captive', Tails began to study Lily's expression as she moped behind the wheel of the truck.

_Poor girl_ , he thought miserably to himself. _I really shouldn't have tried to play the 'I know how this works' angle up._ Besides he had always liked Lily better than the rest of the supporting cast anyway, and then there was the sidekick factor to boot. How often had been pulled into that same mood? 'You're useless.' 'You're a pain' etcetera to the end. He had heard it all before and managed to struggle through it, that's who he was. Lily on the other hand never really had to face her inferiority really, until the series really kicked into gear. Heck she never even really faced it per se, just became much more interesting in the course of one or two stories.

"Hey, um..." Tails scratched the back of his head. "I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean you were useless or anything."

"I'm not." The raccoon grit her teeth. "Or I wasn't. It's all his fault isn't it?..." She started on a a thought and dropped it. Tails didn't push. Here they were kidnapping her and dragging her into self-realization. There wasn't much of a chance she was going to open to them like a floodgate or anything.

"So..." She tried to start again. "If you two aren't Sets then you're from Hoshvorld right?"

Tails laughed a little. No matter how many times he had rolled his eyes at the name of the 'evil planet' there was still something inherently funny about it.

"If we were, do you think we would have kept you alive?"

"No." Lily shook her head. "So what exactly are you two anyway?"

"Extra-dimensional." Tails shrugged nonchalantly. "You know, typical science experiment, we screw up, bad things happen. You've seen it all before." He knew that one was true anyway. Who was the resident genius of this part of the series anyway? The fox thought quickly to the early years. Freosh? Professor Saltz?

Didn't matter. Not like they could match Zarkov's insanity or fun. Geez, the early stuff was kind of bland. Either Darkmind comes up with a scheme to try and draw out Captain Vulpes so he could kill him, or Hoshvorld would invade again. Tails figured it had to get tiring after a while.

Rapping one of his shoes on the floorboards, Sonic spoke up. "Alright, you've got the basic picture. We're not here to tear your heart out and eat it, and you're a little more than you let on. Fine, I can live with that. Know what I can't live with? Us not moving. Can't you just tell me where we're going and I'll have you guys there in less than half an hour. I'm good with directions."

Tails looked over at him. "No, you're not."

"Nah, I'm good with 'em cause I don't usually need 'em right? Even if I get lost once or twice it still means I show up earlier than everybody else."

Tails shrugged. That much was true anyway. When you were traveling around at that sort of speed, 'directions' became largely irrelevant. The main thing that mattered was that you got there, and getting there was what Sonic was usually about anyway.

"We're actually not that far from home." Lily started the truck again. "Besides, like I said before, the last thing Topia needs is strangers. It'd be a lot less troublesome if I got you two in by myself."

Sonic muttered a bit, sinking back in the seat. Sure the lady made sense, but all this trudging along made him a bit on edge. It'd be another matter entirely if the landscape had provided anything to look at, but so far it was more of the same- Flat desolate, featureless wasteland with no wind. In fact...

"Alright, this place is really creeping me out. Would one of you kindly explain to me exactly why everything's dead?"

Tails put a paw to his forehead for a second in thought. "Stupid backstory...Wait, no. I got this. So in the far off future of the eighties, scientists here perfected genetic engi-"

"Oh God, no! Not again!" Sonic covered his ears. "If I have to hear you ramble on about Watson and Crick one more time I'll..."

"Nah, relax. It's not what you think. See, at best all they can make is automatons. They call them Mindsets. They're really just fancy puppets."

"So sort of like organic robots?"

"Yeah." Tails nodded. "It'd be easier for you to think of them that way. That was probably what those boneless turkeys were back there too."

"Brambuzzards." Lily confirmed as she drove on. "I'm surprised you were able to fight them. Normal people would just get overtaken by them. They're quite heavy when they ram into you."

"Yeah? Surprising for what's underneath." Sonic shuddered a bit as he tried in vain to brush his stained quills again. "Right. So the bad things are Mindsets, or Sets for short right?"

"Yep." Tails answered. "And if you can't guess the guy they're calling Darkmind is evil overlord of 'em."

"Realllllly?" Sonic rolled his eyes sarcastically. "And with a name like that I thought he bred puppies."

"Oh he does." Tails laughed. "Puppies of DEATH!"

Lily shook her head. "Okay, for someone who isn't native to this place you know an awful lot about it. And how the heck could you know about the Puppies of Death anyway? He just sicked those on us a few weeks ago."

"That was an actual story?" Sonic looked at Tails. "Are they gonna get any worse?"

"That depends on how you define 'worse.'" Tails shrugged. "As for me knowing things," He tried to turn the conversation towards Lily's point. "Think of it as if your world was a fully mass marketable franchise spanning about eight decades worth of material, and I myself am somewhat of a devotee."

"What?"

"He's one of your fanboys." Sonic smirked. "Or Captain Vulpes' or whoever."

"Everybody's a fan of Captain Vulpes." The raccoon brushed the comment off.

"Wait, now hold it. It's not to say I don't like the guy. I just think you and the others are more interesting."

"You just spent the last fifteen minutes humiliating me. If that's how you show favoritism..."

"You're fictional in our universe!" Sonic tried to drive the point home in an attempt to kill the conversation. "He reads and listens and other crap and he knows what's going to happen!"

" _Could_ happen." Tails corrected him. "There's no telling if this universe is based directly off of the stories or if our presence here alters them in some way."

Lily drove on for a second in silence.

"So you mean..." She spoke up again. "That you know when Jo-when Captain Vulpes is coming back?"

"Wait." Tails looked a little taken aback. "He's gone?"

"Packed up and left in a Starshot a few weeks ago. We haven't heard from him since."

"Lily..." Tails rubbed his eyebrows, his voice starting to pick a little agitation. "I _really_ think we should stay way from Topia right now."

"Is something gonna explode again?" Sonic asked. "'Cause frankly I wouldn't mind something exploding. At least that would be entertaining."

Tails sighed a bit trying desperately to put the words in their proper order.

"Alright," He started. "Darkmind's going to blow the place to bits and everyone's going to die."

_Nice job_ his mind informed him as Lily bought the truck to another halt.

"WHAT?"

"Well, it's how the story goes. The first of the Ten Trails." Tails gave a little shrug. "They had to end the war thing somehow and get you guys on the run, so..." He was cut off as Lily slammed on the accelerator, the truck now going as fast it could take itself.

"Eh..." Sonic twirled a finger in the air. "I've seen better."

"No, really!" Tails had been slammed into the backseat from the sudden burst of speed. Desperately he tried to claw his way back up to the front and get Lily's attention. "I'm not kidding around!"

"You said it yourself, this might not be the same universe right?" Lily didn't take her eye off the horizon. "So that means there's a chance to stop it. When's it gonna happen?"

"I don't know, it's not like the show mentions the exact date and time. I just know that Captain Vulpes leaving was the catalyst. Gave Darkmind the excuse!"

"Then we'll wing it! Set up a defense! Talk to Saltz! Do...I don't know, something!" Lily flailed around a bit as she made a sharp turn, the truck never once skidding out of control.

Defeated, Tails sank back into the backseat. "You're better at this than me." He whispered to Sonic. "Get her to stop."

"Is it gonna be that bad?"

"You wanna be in the middle of it?"

Gripping the passenger seat, Sonic pulled himself up to the front effortlessly. "Hello there Miss Maill. Just wanted to make sure we understand that..." The hedgehog made a grab for the wheel. Without turning around, Lily lifted a paw up, gun still in tow. Firing twice close enough to singe the very edge of one of Sonic's stained quills, she kept a claw on the trigger

"Wrong answer." Sonic flipped over the side of the truck, hanging onto the cutaway door by his gloves. Noticing what was about to happen, Tails threw himself underneath the seat. The truck clunked exactly five times and finally began to slow down.

Lily smashed on the accelerator repeatedly to no effect, only to look up and notice what exactly was holding her progress- One very angry hedgehog running in the opposite direction.

"Lesson one, remember exactly who you're dealing with." Tails' voice streamed out from the flat of the floor. "We're not trying to doom the others, we're trying to save your life."

Lily tightened her grip on the wheel of the truck tightly and put her head down. This wasn't fair, it wasn't fair at all. _Why_ was everyone going to die? Because some deformed kit had read a story? This wasn't how reality worked, regardless of what world you were...

* * *

Somewhere in between, there was a sound that all of them heard, but instantly forgot the moment after it happened. If either Sonic or Tails were capable of remembering that this moment even occurred, they would have recognized it as an over bombastic ad for taffy.

* * *

As familiar sounds and smells started to surround her, Lily lifted her head up, staring at their surroundings.

Okay, again this wasn't how reality worked but she supposed she shouldn't be complaining.

Someway, somehow they were in front of the entrance to Topia.

* * *

**The Grand Free City of Topia! The last remnant of freedom out in the wastelands of the future, this magnificent metropolis with it's shining buildings, it's bustling Rocket Harbor, and topped off by the towering lab of the famous Professor Peirmond Saltz is the home and base of our hero!**

* * *

At first, Sonic's line of thinking was that he had simply ran backwards too fast, and had made one fantastic loop around the planet to where they had ended up at..well...this place. Than his brain nearly snapped in fear. Going that fast might've actually turned Tails and Lily into some sort of Jello.

Eh, it turned out they were alright though, since they were staring at him from the truck so whatever.

Wait, wait, wait a a second. if he didn't make a loop how exactly did they move forward? The only other explanation would've been that he was slower than the truck, and he knew that wasn't true in the least.

"Tails!"

"What?"

"Tell me how we got here. Feel free to use any sciency terms you want."

Tails hopped out of the truck and leaned on it's frame. "Alright. So according to the research I've done on physical metaphysics..." he trailed off

"Yeah?"

"That was a joke bud. No such thing. In other words, I have no flippin' clue. Lily? Any ideas?"

The raccoon shook her head.

"And there we go." Tails bit his lip. "It's a bit like the sun setting just a moment a-." He froze for a second. "Sonic?"

A chill ran down through Sonic's quills. "Uh..." He started. "Okay, how did that even happen?"

The sun was at it's high noon peak again.

"Yeah." Tails scratched his muzzle. "We're gonna need to ask an expert."

* * *

"So this Saltz guy? What's he like?" Sonic asked as they began to trudge up the many stairs inside the tower. Another thing about this crazy place that made no sense whatsoever. Floating streetcars bring you were you want to be in nearly a flash, but for some reason there was a distinct lack of an elevator in the dang place. Really if you wanted to go that far, you could say there was a distinct lack of place, period. So far, all they had seen was one long endless concrete stairway leading up, and nothing else. No other rooms, no lobby, just the staircase. Why would anyone build a tower just for the sake of having something tall?

"Crazy." Lily mumbled.

"Pretty much." Tails confirmed. "By the way Lily, you may wanna stay away from him. About twenty years from now, you lose an eye in one of his experiments."

Lily stared at the fox with a resigned look on her face. "You know, somehow I'm not surprised."

"You get a eyepatch." Tails shrugged.

"Is it computerized? Can I scan for things on it? Does it shoot lasers or something?" The lieutenant sighed.

"Nah. Just an eyepatch. Looks pretty badass though."

"Eh, twenty years gives me time to plan revenge." Lily didn't lose her pace going up the stairs.

Sonic smirked a bit and punched Tails in the arm.

Sighing, Tails let Lily take a few steps ahead, and then turned to his friend.

"You ain't got a chance with her for one, she's fictional." He whispered to Sonic.

"So? I can deal with fictional. I just want to know if she's like this all the time. I have this thing for sarcasm."

"Two, she's sort of taken. For the next sixty years actually."

"And the two never tied the knot?" Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Poor girl."

"You don't know the half of it. Wait until those sixty years are over and someone tries to do a revamp." Tails' face seemed to contort.. "On second thought, don't mention that. Ever. Anyway my third point is, we're not going to be stuck here forever and dragging her back with us would be a pretty bad idea."

"Why? Would it collapse the space time continuum or something?"

"No, it's far worse than that." Tails shuddered. "I'm trying to think of Amy's reaction."

"Oooo." Sonic deflated like an old balloon. "Forgot about her. Hey, I thought you said you had an idea to get her off my back."

Tails' fur stood a little on edge. "Uh...yeah. That didn't exactly work out the way I planned it..."

By now they had reached some sort of plateau. Lily broke them out of their conversation as she rapped at the door in front of them.

"Professor Saltz?" The raccoon called out. "Can we have a word with you?"

"Stay away!" A voice came shooting out of the room.

Their ears suddenly perking up, Sonic and Tails looked at each other and rushed ahead of Lily, knocking down and destroying the door in the process.

"Is this a thing with you two?" Lily fumed at them as the dust from the wreckage settled. "Sorry Professor, I've got some company with..."

She stared. The Professor stared back.

* * *

There was that feeling again. Something had happened but no could tell what. Whatever it was it passed by quickly. The boys wouldn't have noticed anyway as they were too busy trying to make sense of what was before them.

"Amy, I'm going to ask you this one time." Sonic held up a single gloved finger. "WHY?" He nearly fell emphasizing the question.

"I've got one." Tails added on. "Where'd you get the lab coat?"

Lily blinked a couple of times. This wasn't Saltz, unless one of his newer experiments had been to convert himself into a teenage girl.

Then again, it _was_ Saltz. It wouldn't have been that surprising.

Ah to hell with it. This day was just getting stranger by the minute.


	3. Rise of Darkmind Pt. 2

**...That was Alexander Woodward and His Orchestra providing us with those sentimental tunes that we all cherish.**

**We now journey years into the far off future of the NINETEEN EIGHTIES to visit that hero of heroes, CAPTAIN VULPES!**

**Yes, Captain Vulpes, defender of truth and justice in an otherwise bleak and inhospitable world, fighting the ever dastardly Darkmind and his awful automatons- The Mindsets!**

**As always, CAPTAIN VULPES is bought to you by Wizwow Confections! Makers of the world's finest candy and sweets, and keep your eyes peeled for our new Magic Wrapper contest in every box of Wizwow Taffy. You might be a winner!**

* * *

A drip of water hit the floor.

_There are gaps._ Something similar to a voice echoed in the empty void. _You need to fill in the gaps_

"G-gaps." A solitary paw began to strike at a typewriter. It was an absurd scene, in the middle of nothing sat a figure hovering over a desk and it's various writing instruments all of it supported by seemingly nothing. "Have to fill in..."

_If you find something blocking your way..._ The not-voice started up again.

"I'll remove it." The figure confirmed and continued to peck letter by letter at the typewriter.

* * *

_...It is incorrect to say that Saltz is an outright clone of Hans Zarkov. Whereas the Flash Gordon series played it's scientist straightly serious at times (If a little insane), Saltz was largely used for laughs in the earlier stories. Although he is considered the genius behind the Starshots, the Knightheart and the pistol lasers, he was almost always presented as forgetful and bumbling, often causing more harm than good._

_This wouldn't always be the case however, and while the Professor remained a source of comic relief throughout nearly every incarnation of the series, later stories show him to be quite capable of holding his own against threats. -_ _The Complete Captain Vulpes Encyclopedia_ _by Jonathan Yulie_

Any answers that were to be had from questioning one very confused pink hedgehog were put on delay the second Sonic had noticed that Saltz had the good sense to install a chemical shower. After removing what appeared to be one of the Professors sentient botany experiments from the thing, ("Look, don't you think its time you got out there on your own, and saw all the..um...dirt the world has to offer you? Meet some nice pollinating insect or something."), he then kicked the other three out while he cleaned the Brambuzzard guts off.

So here they sat, banished to the featureless concrete staircase just outside the lab, while the hedgehog tidied up.

"So, how bout those large gaping holes in the fabric of reality?" Tails stated flatly, puffing his cheeks out and trying to recline as much as possible. "Geez, no offense Amy, but you kind of gave us a shock there."

"Gave _you_ a shock? _You?!"_ The girl was furious. "I still don't know what the heck's going on! Twenty minutes ago I was channel surfing and now I'm dressed like Frankenstein's reject brother." She looked down at the outfit which had replaced her dress. "I can't even guess when the last time this stuff was cleaned."

"Five years ago." Lily confirmed. "We had a small parade in celebration when they came out of the wash."

Amy squeaked a little desperately trying to smooth out the wrinkles in the jacket and scrubs.

"Well, on that first impression, Amy Rose, I'd like you to meet Lieutenant Lillian Maill. Apparently she'll be providing sarcastic commentary and exposition for however long we're here. Likewise to you Lieutenant, Amy here is..."

"Unique?"

"You know, I _used_ to be kinda normal before I met those two." Amy glared at Tails. "One day you're walking along minding your own business, then BAM! You're kidnapped by a robot and your whole life changes."

"I'd blame it solely on you." Tails shot back. "You had your chance to walk away, and you _followed_ him. You chose this."

"Crazy things for love." Amy smiled, brushing her head-quills a bit. "Anyway, it's nice to meet you Lily." The two shook paws. "I don't suppose you know whats going on, do you?"

"Not a clue. According to the pup-"

"I'm sixteen!" Tails tried to protest.

"The _pup_ ," Lily refused to let up. "You guys are from some other dimension and this whole place is going up in flames in a matter of days."

'"Nother dimension? "Amy looked pained. "Great. Another sign I'm getting weirder."

"Stuff like this is common for you?"

"I shouldn't be surprised. It's not the worst thing that's ever happened to me. I was brainwashed and forced to play pinball once."

Lily blinked. "All of you are just a bucket o' surprises."

"So, how do ya know this place is gonna explode?" Amy turned to Tails.

"Read it before. We're in a universe based on some old stories. Captain Vulpes. Remember those movies I forced all of you to watch?"

"I remember a cigar on strings and a rubber squid." Amy rubbed her temples. "Was kind of focused on other things that night."

"Oh come on. What could more fun than the rubber squid?"

Amy smiled a bit unnervingly. "Dark room, cuddled up to Sonic..."

"Him, pushing you to the floor and tossing the bowl of popcorn over your head..." Tails finished.

"You're a killjoy."

"You're frightening."

"Yikes." Lily pushed both of them away from each other. "C'mon guys, don't disembowel each other on Saltz's front door. Or..." Something seemed to hit her slowly. "And there's the question for the day. What happened to the professor?"

Tails shrugged. "He should be here. Kind of responsible for getting the city's defenses up to speed."

"Not good. Whens the attack supposed to begin?"

Tails shook his head. "Don't know." He turned to Amy. "Don't suppose you could do a quick reading or something?"

"Nope." Amy did the same, patting the spot near her pocket where the case would normally be. "Don't have the cards with me, don't have an emerald to make it accurate. Biting into a fortune cookie would be more helpful, at least they give you advice."

"That's the other thing. Why are you here?" Lily looked at her. "You're wearing Saltz's clothes, something no one would do willingly, he's gone off and vanished, and forgive my suspicions, but its my job. What's the connection between all of you showing up?"

Tails fumbled around a bit for something, pulling out the now clear husk of the fake emerald. "Ta-da!"

"Riiight." The raccoon blinked. "So you switched dimensions because of a badly designed snow-globe."

"Not quite. Its just a copy of something much more..."

"Trouble than trouble than its worth." Amy grumbled. "Its always about the emeralds isn't it?"

"That thing is clear." Lily pointed out.

"'Cause its out of juice." Tails shrugged and handed over the emulate to her. "Whatever happened that snapped me and Sonic up, drained it."

"So?" Amy snatched it away from Lily, to give it a good look-over. "Why am I here?"

The fox scratched his chin. "I'm not too certain. It may have something to do with Sonic, or it could be the fact we've been exposed to some sort of chaos radiation or something too often. That's tricky."

"I don't get it." Lily stood up and started to pace up and down the stairs a bit. "Whats a stupid rock have to do with moving you guys between worlds?"

"Heh. If that's what one copy does, try to imagine what seven real rocks do when they're together in one place." Tails chuckled. "These things are accumulations of pure chaos. According to legend they solidified at the beginning of the universe, made up of whatever material there was before...material."

"What?"

"Okay, think of it this way. If the universe is constantly expanding, whats it expanding _into_? Whatever empty space that was here before...before, isn't necessarily empty space. Its-"

"Seven rocks. Unlimited energy. We've sort of learned how to use it." Amy cut him off.

"Hey! I wasn't finished."

"I don't think you even knew what you were talking about." Amy stuck her tongue out. "Before before?"

"You try describing something that exists when it shouldn't!"

"Okay. It's something that exists when it shouldn't."

Tails smiled a bit. Amy had a good head on her shoulders sometimes, even if she didn't realize it herself. "Alright. Sorry to confuse you Lily. Amy's right, the emeralds do stupid things for no reason sometimes. We should be safe though, like I said before, this is just a copy."

"Perfectly safe." Amy shook her head. "Not like we're going to get drug into another dimension where all the rocks are made out of rubber or anything."

That bit of snark was enough to give Tails pause. While some cliches were being played totally straight, others weren't. The brambuzzards were supposed to be reused seagull puppets not disgusting freaks of nature but at the same time the lack of detail, the odd way time was or wasn't passing lined up with the usual details of shlock, if its unimportant to the overall picture it was omitted. You couldn't expect them to have a budget for everything.

"But these are the written stories..." As was usual the fox began talking a good chunk of his thoughts out. It wasn't a monologue, but more of a half mumble. All the others usually heard was 'mhrhrmrhplaneparts' or some such but it provided him a little bit of time to think as others tended to back off. "There's no limitation to what Wesset could do yet. But why the lack of everything?"

Ending his thoughtful moment he walked down a couple steps and turned his head back to Lily. "Can we see the _Knightheart_?"

"Sure, its just been sitting there since Johnnie..." Lily sighed a bit annoyed. "I mean the Captain left anyway. Ain't much we can do with it without his deck."

"Nonononono, not another one! Even on the best of days I cant get Emerl to do anything more than make a lousy cup of tea." Amy groaned in frustration, just about putting her head in her hands.

"Well, too bad. Its the twenties, this is how it worked. Sorry Lilly, I know its a different time period for you but...oh forget it.

The thing with Emrel's pretty close. The _Knightheart_ flies on predetermined paths and actions recorded on punch cards. That's one of the draws of the series, they did something different. Space combat here is more ponderous, slow and intense. There's no way it'd work like that in real life..."

Lilly cleared her throat.

"Okay, _our_ real life, but for the time being, we're stuck here and we have to learn how to adapt. You'd do well as a flapper." Tails meant that encouragingly but seemed to realize his mistaking, ducking as if expecting a blow. "Sorry! I meant..."

"I know what you meant, it's okay." Amy exhaled and smiled herself. "I guess a change of clothes wouldn't hurt or anything. I probably don't have any Space Money or whatever it is you all trade in..."

"Just Rings." Lilly defused a bit of tension herself with a chuckle. "I don't think they've managed to space-ify those yet. The guy who's suit you're wearing has probably tried though."

"Yeah, um...Lily? I can call you that right?" Amy looked at her almost pleadingly. "You have something I can..."

"Yeah. I don't think we're too far off from each other. When we get back to HQ, I'll loan you some..."

Tails rose a paw to stop her and slowly put it to his head, grimacing. "Wait. When we get back to HQ..."

"Well, yeah. It ain't here. I mean, Saltz has a tower sure but..."

"Lily, we got here on the streetcars right?"

"Right." The raccoon nodded. "Topia's too big to walk across like that."

"So...why can't I really remember getting on? And here's the bigger question. Where is everybody? Wasn't there...there was a driver right? And...and a crowd..."

Everything seemed to be getting hazy now as the fox yawned. "There was a bunch of stuff. And a bunch of people. But nobody said anything about my tails. Because there wasn't anybody and there wasn't any stuff..." The fog seemed to set in as the fox stood to stretch on the oversized step. Best to try and stay awake if something big was about to happen "Because there are gaps but we're gonna fix-huh?"

The entire world snapped back into vividness, as he found himself teetering at the edge of the step, Amy holding onto his neck ruff much much tighter than Tails had thought she was capable of.

"Um...Ames? What are you-"

"Look down."

Tails did as he was told. The red and white shoes were perched precariously closed to the edge of the step yeah, but...

"I was gonna jump wasn't I?" He asked flatly, looking at his partially bent knees.

"Lily, whatever type of bad guy you have here. Does he do hypnotism?" Amy's face had suddenly had all of her previous apprehension replaced with what appeared to be something much more serious.

"Sort of?" The lieutenant hadn't been idle either, positioning herself on the step below to catch Tails in case the worst happened. "Not like this though. If it was that easy, he could have offed all of us by now."

"I was going to -jump-." Tails repeated, knees shaking wildly now.

"Keep them steady. You're safe, okay?" Amy helped him settle back down on the step, the mechanic nearly collapsing into her arms. The hedgehog stretched out a gloved hand to stroke his head-fur as his breathing calmed.

Lily sighed in half-frustration, half-relief. "What we do know is that you were spouting off some pretty weird stuff there. No people? No things? I mean all you have to do is look out the window and..."

"What window?" With no small amount of fear, Tails seemed to have gone into a sniffing, sniveling mess, pointing at the blank concentre walls.

Lily stared at it, utterly confused for a moment, before another brief muffled voice passed through their ears.

"All you have to do is stare out the window. The whole city's outside." She pointed directly towards the single, simple glass pane that was the only view out of the tower steps.

"Yeah, I know." Tails sniffed again. "I don't know what I said, I don't know what I'm thinking."

"Ah-vasily you haff experienced mental trauma ov some sort." Amy was now speaking with an accent unlike anything that had ever passed her muzzle, completely unidentifiable other than 'foreign'. "Eet ez reco-moan-ded that you takk to bed immediately before..."

The voice halted, her own confusion showing. "I'm getting really dizzy."

"Professor?" The raccoon asked carefully. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Lily, that's not funny. I get the clothes make me look like...whoever but..."

"No, you're right I'm sorry." The same confusion and pain spread to the lieutenant's face as well. "I think we all need a rest. Saltz keeps some cots up there. We should all take a rest as soon as your friend gets done with his quill manicure. Cant' rightfully save the city if we're all this stressed out."

The three seemed to huddle together in silence before they got their shout of confirmation from the room above them.

"Haha, smelling like a polished ring in the register. I'm fine now guys. Even found some new duds that fit that -don't- stick to the wall."

Amy grumbled at that comment, again messing with her current wardrobe.

"S-sonic? We really need to talk. Like now." Tails' voice was still small and insecure. "Bad things are going on."

"Of course bad things are going on." The voice was nonchalant. "Can't you see the gaps?"

* * *

Slumping the figure seemed exhausted, nearly collapsing on the typewriter's keyboard.

"They know too much. Why do they know so much? Don't they have any suspension of disbelief? Any sense of wonder?"

_Intolerable._ The echo seemed to almost be pacing. _Unfortunate. They cannot see for they see to clearly._

"So what?" The figure grew a disgusted look on it's muzzle. "I have to keep playing catch up? They're exhausting to keep up with."

_There are gaps._ The echo reminded him. _Perhaps it's time you erased them._

"No sense of artistry at all. You can't kill characters before you've set them up." The response was scoffing and dismissive, a cynical and bitter chuckle escaping. "So I suppose we should get to the good stuff next, huh?"


	4. Rise of Darkmind Pt. 3

"Okay so I have a few questions." Amy led the others back in, almost supporting a seemingly weakened Tails. "First of all, I want to say that's a very nice coat..."

"Yeah, I know." Sonic grinned wide enough to show off his two incisors as he modeled a bit with the black flight jacket, turning to show the large "V" on the back. "Why it almost reminds me of...

 **How YOU the young boys at home can now get your own genuine CAPTAIN VULPES overcoat! That's right, you too can wear the same style as the Hero of The Stars made from one hundred percent genuine wool flannel, and a fair bit lighter than trotting around in leather, best for still developing young minds and muscles as you sneak up on any hidden Sets! Just have Mother send 5 boxtops of that fine cleaning solution CLEANOMAX to 744 Lavrin Street , Station Square and you TOO can have your own CAPTAIN VULPES adventure in style!** "

Whatever confusion this may have bought on dissipated in a matter of seconds as Lily nodded, the segue fading from everyone's mind. "Yeah, you may have figured out it's Johnnie's. Weird it fits you so well, he's got a bit of a...unique build."

"Lemme guess, you could chisel a monument out of him." Amy gave a very coy smirk as the raccoon returned with a one of her own and a quick nod.

"I suppose your beau will just have to grow into it."

"At the same time he materializes from the thin air of her imagination." Sonic moved quickly to shut the conversation down. "So what's the OTHER questions?"

Amy let Tails free as the fox found his way to the worn and discolored sofa in the middle of the room, nearly collapsing on it.

"Gaps. What did you mean by that?"

Sonic blinked a few times and threw out his arms. "Amy, what do you see?"

"Weird experiments, that shower, the sof-"

"No. Describe the room in great detail."

The female hedgehog clicked her tongue in annoyance for a moment as she looked around before it began to dawn on her. The room was more like the set piece of a stage. The 'experiments' were crowded into one corner on what seemed to be a rickety almost rotten school desk, the sofa was simply in the middle of the room facing nothing, not even a radio or window, the shower in the far corner, and the floor barren save for a filthy brown rug.

"It's a radio show." Tails pulled himself up to a sitting position. "You're not going to need things unless you come in contact with them or mention them."

"I don't like the implications you're giving." Lily grumbled. "My reality isn't maleable."

"Ha! You explain the room then?"

"Which part?" It was her turn to gesture now. "That gross plant scattered around the floor? The creeping mold along the walls? The way that sofa has so many patches it's practically made from every material in existence? I don't even know what's wrong with that Tele-Fold..." She pointed to the large pyramid the couch was now facing. "Or which cot Saltz even sleeps on. I think he just moves-"

* * *

"That's not going to work now is it?" The figure paused in the middle of typing. "If we have a different person playing the part, she'll have to adapt to it. So we have to adapt with her."

* * *

"Or which cot you sleep on. What do you do?! Just move whatever you're working on from one bed to the next and hope it's clear the next day?" She pointed an accusatory finger at the girl next to her.

"Tra-hu genius iz often a-sheaved within one's bed. Eet zaves en-urgy unt effart." Amy stuck her nose up slightly in the air, before again looking at Sonic fondly. "Oof course un could find someone to cuddle when putting forth sooch effart. Perhaps greater insphere-azions could be found..."

* * *

The figure stopped again. "I didn't type that. Saltz can't be in love. He's in love with science. He's too obsessed to notice...ahhh." It nodded. "Piermond Saltz perhaps, not Amelia Saltz."

_You understand now. Adapt._

"I'm more worried about giving a woman such intellect and power. They are emotional beasts. Perhaps this will make cleanup easier though."

The not-voice seemed silent and confused for a moment before it began again.

_Agreement is not obtained. These traits such as emotion are what we are searching for, though the pink unit lacks the required elements of what we seek._

"We're looking for a woman then?" The query came out as a genuine laugh. "Saints! I wouldn't expect you to be on the prowl!"

_Love is a powerful force. I will find-_

"Yeah yeah buddy. We've all got heartbreak." The figure picked up the mug nearby to take a sip. "We'll keep going. Come on."

* * *

Amy cleared her throat as Sonic looked blankly at her. "No."

"You're no fun at all sometimes, I swear." She huffed, voice returning to normal. "So yeah, it's my work. I'm not joking. You can make a better effort conserving energy sometimes...but um...yeah. I think I SHOULD clean up. Maybe I've gone overboard."

"I dunno." Tails picked up an errant sheet of paper. "I like the idea for radio controlled clothing."

"Yeah, that one was special. Essentially the idea is your clothes will dress you. As soon as you know, I can figure out how to make transmitters that small."

"Easy enough, stop relying on vacuum tubes the size of my head." The fox chuckled. "Though how you'll suspend them in mid air would..."

"You're forgetting where we are bucko. Radio drama. Floatanium''s been a plot point since the second seri-sorry Lily, I mean second year of Captain Vulpes arrival."

"Oh! The Rock Fight!" Tails looked up, brightening.

"Yeah that's the one! Where they smashed the boulders together! They got a real pickaxe to make the sounds too!"

"Yeah and they dug right into the announcer's boot!"

"Hey they used that recorded scream for years." Amy gave a slight shrug. "No use letting a good piece of acting go to waste."

A very small whispered squeak escaped the tod's muzzle, though mostly inadubible to the others.

"...Wait what was that?"

"Just mumbling to myself, looking over these things." He put the paper down. "Wait, I thought you hated this stuff. When you learn so much about it?"

"I do hate it. It's dumb." Amy seemed taken aback herself now. "I guess I just...know it now? Maybe the same thing with the lab coat. It sort of leaked in? Anyway, what were you saying Sonic? Something about gaps?"

"Huh?" Sonic adjusted the jacket just a bit tighter. "What are ya talking about?"

"Right." Lily held up a paw. "Y'all are suffering some kind of dimensional displacement sickness. I probably am too considering how we got here. Let's clear off these cots and get some sort of nap in before you all go insane."

The three visitors looked at each other and shrugged in sync, beginning work on cleaning up.

"Sonic, I swear do not run with those papers! Those are ORGANIZED." Amy stormed over to try and stop him from making a worse mess with any errant use of super speed.

Lily instead followed Tails as the fox shuffled the papers next to him.

"Hey." Her voice was low and hushed, worried as if the two hedgehogs would judge her for asking. "I know you said you don't have a time frame, but...the Captain comes back right? He saves the day in the end?"

Tails seemed to look a little ways into the distance. "From here on out, not always. Not all the time. But you win where it matters."

Lillian flinched. "In other words, Topia's..."

"It might not be. What if we're here to stop it?" Tails placed a stack of the half-sketched plan on the now ornate and sturdy work desk. "Or even if we can't in the end, maybe knowing what we know means things'll end up better. We could save a lot more people. A lot more resources. This may as well be a reboot, right?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but sure." Lily still seemed unconvinced. "My problem is you said 'everyone' was going to die. Obviously not me, not Johnnie, not Saltz. Who else?"

"It's not worth putting yourself on a set path. You'll only..."

"Who ELSE Tails?"

The fox turned towards her, trying very hard to make eye contact and failing. "That's it."

The raccoon nodded silently. "Gonna go get some stuff from the cache, warn a few folks, we're going to scramble. You three...just get some rest. I think I'm starting to see on how all this stuff is working, and who it's focused -on-."

"He comes back Lily."

"I know. I want him to have something to come back too. Character development be damned. Keep your friends safe, kiddo. The blue one's gonna leap straight into a spike pit one of these days if you're not around, and if the pink one's taking up Saltz's...saltz-i-iness, she's gonna blow that pretty little headband like a smokestack."

"Same to you. Vulpes wouldn't even be here without you, and without giving too much away, you're important to a certain flighty space pirate too."

The lieutenant's muzzle curled into a smile. "Never been to space ya know. At least not yet. Glad to know I'm popular there."

A soft bit of laughter followed the raccoon out as she left, Tails looking over the bare mattresses on the cots.

"See, you're not that gross Amy. They're clean enough."

"Don't...don't lie on those." She turned her head in worry. "Um, I needed a safe and dry environment for some of the samples..."

The fox cringed a bit, backing away slowly. "I hope you have a disposal policy."

"Stick it in the Knightheart's engine and hope it doesn't explode."

"Well glad to see you haven't changed much despite the clothes and all the geek knowledge." Sonic stretched a bit as his end of the papers and studies were unceremoniously dumped on the nearby desk. "I was beginning to feel left out."

"If I'm being a third wheel, I can go look at the giant spaceship nearby." Tails smirked only to dodge a notebook to the head at the last moment.

"Actually," Amy studied both of them carefully for a moment, stroking her chin. "You two step into the room on the right. We gotta get Sonic adjusted to...things."

* * *

"Nuh-uh." Sonic stared at the object on the tray before him. "It's not like I wouldn't use one if push came to shove but that's -his- thing not mine. I don't want to paint my quills black."

"Don't worry. Unlike what I've seen in real life, you might have an honest chance of hitting something here. This isn't a gun, it's a Sparker." Amy picked it up to hand it over to him.

Sonic still seemed skeptical. It looked something like a metal potato jammed into a grip so curvy it could probably grate cheese. He took it from her, eyes shifting back and forth.

"So as part of your mad scientist routine, you have a makeshift shooting range in what would be your kitchen?"

Tails adjusted one of the chrome dummies nearby. "Makes sense to me. If she's cooking up weapons, you need a place to use 'em. Besides, you'll love this. Just wait."

"I'm no GOOD at this that's the problem." Sonic sighed again. "There's no sight on this thing, I don't even know how to reload it..."

"It just cools down." Amy assured him. "Just fire at the dummy."

Sonic tried his best to level the Sparker and pulled what passed for the trigger.

-pew-

The impact and absorption of the small ball sized spark didn't even go noticed as he looked down at it, at first in shock and then in gradual wonder.

"D-did that just...? Seriously? That's the noise it makes?!"

"Told ya." Tails was nearly giggling madly himself.

"And while he'll be firing that off at everything in sight for the next ten minutes." Amy grasped the fox's paw and took him to another side of the room. "You get to practice."

A short metal table, almost more of a small cart stood there, two tiny spaceship models on either end, but it was what was behind it that was the real prize.

A massive mainframe dominated the wall, ticker spilling out of one side while the other had several small input slots up and down.

"Oh no way!"

"Oh yes way." Amy nodded, picking up a deck of cards from the table. "If I'm going to be crazy, Sonic's going to be shooty then you're gonna learn to fly them."

"But Captain Vulpes is his own pilot." Tails seemed confused. "I don't fit in the mold here."

"Yeah well, break the mold. You know how this works right?"

Tails quickly flipped through the punch cards, face falling.

"Not a clue."

"Ohhhh boy. Okay. So the red cards are meant for maneuvers. Based on the pattern and number of punches will be how the ship moves. So if you wanted to circle around..."

Amy took three cards after scanning the deck, put them into the slots and after a bit of ticking, the model on the left rose to go in a perfect circle.

"Uh...I meant circle around not go IN a...never mind. You get it."

Tails looked back down at the deck frowning. "No I don't. I'd have to memorize all these patterns. Figure out what goes with what. And that's to say nothing of the GREEN ones."

"Oh those are attack cards. It's less about patterns and more about the order they're loaded in."

"You want me to learn all of this now?!"

Amy jutted a thumb behind her. "Would you rather Sonic do it?"

The blue hedgehog had already grown bored of the dummy and was on his back, firing the sparks in the air as they hit the ceiling without so much as a hint of fallout.

Tails sighed. "I'll get to testing."

* * *

 

Regardless, it had been a halfway decent move by Amy. Sonic's willingness to experiment with the Sparker in an armored area, Tails dedication to at least trying to figure out the basics of a challenge, the two wouldn't be thinking of any impending doom or holes within reality, and more importantly it gave her time to research without them poking their muzzles into things.

Not that she didn't love the two of them, nothing could ever have stopped her from that, but both were too inquisitive at times, and both could be...very overprotective. Especially if they knew what it was she was looking up.

Safe in the main room's bookcases, her paw scanned a bookshelf, finding what she wanted as she spread it out on the desk.

"H...H...Here."

Hosvorld. The evil planet with the enforced accent. Silly enough but...based in reality. Only showing at certain times, largely unknown, somewhere between primitive jungle world and menacing technical disaster. And with elements of their world seeping in...

Amy closed the book gently and rested her chin on the cover. It was only going to be a matter of time the longer they stayed here. She could handle it know, she was older, in the right sense this time, the nightmares weren't even a thing anymore.

But that was because she hadn't set foot there in...

"It's okay. He was there in the end. He was there in the end. He was there. In the end." She swallowed, still whispering the mantra to herself. The chair drew in closer.

"There in the end, there in the end, there in the end..." Over and over again until her mind finally drifted off.

* * *

The figure stopped typing, breathing heavily. "What...but I wasn't supposed to...they're..."

_Some things are less easily forgotten. And perhaps the designations of every day life are not as formless as you imagine them to be._

"Real life and real people. Real drama and real problems. Pointless." The figure scoffed and resumed his work. "They're fleeting and pointless."

_Agreement is not obtained._

"Big surprise. Not all of us are...you. Never mind, you know I can't phrase it."

* * *

"Hey. Hey Amy." She was awoken at least sometime later by a push on her shoulder. Lily stood there in full battle gear, armor donned and Sparker at the ready.

"Pft." The hedgehog blew at her bangs again. The book cover was bound to leave an embarrassing mark on her forehead. "Sorry I got distracted. What's up?"

"I need your help in checking out the barrier cannons. I'd ask the kit or maybe have the cobalt one keep lookout but..." Her gaze drifted over to the center of the room. The two had finished their practice, Sonic now firmly asleep on the couch while Tails was carefully bundled up with blankets and his own tails on the floor, no where near the mattresses.

"Yeah, I made them anyway right?" She tilted her head to give a small crack in her neck and stood. "Then let's go."

* * *

_The barrier guns despite their function as status-quo enforcers being invalidated after the first trial remained a popular and eficient deus ex machina for Wesset and his successors for years to come. Able to channel Sparks into a defensive or offensive beam, they could act as shields or in times of desperation reroute that energy to a single powerful blast._

_Of course Wesset bought up the fact that such technology would be co-opted and used by other forces and the crew of the Knightheart often found itself on their receiving end just as much as they would hide behind it._

_-_ _The Complete Captain Vulpes Encyclopedia_ _by Johnathan Yulie_

* * *

"Normally I'd like to run some tests, but that would involve shutting off the barrier altogether, and we don't have the manpower to spare while I do it." The two were out on one of the towers were the barrier cannon stood. It was far less like a giant gun and more like a bright orange radio tower, a lone orb pulsating with electricity at the top.

No wind blew though Amy still thought to draw the lab coat tight around her. There was still a chill regardless, and the sun in whatever stage it wanted to be in, never seemed to provide much warmth beyond what was necessary.

"So how do we know if it's functional?" Lily asked in curiosity as Amy pulled out a ring, twirling it on her finger.

"The most traditional test in the world." With a small flourish she tossed it just past the tower, nodding with sanctification as it fizzled and melted into a gold gloop.

"I'd say it works just fine." She patted the base of the tower.

"Think it would hold up against an attack then?"

Amy exhaled. "Against Sets and a few Sparks, yes. Maybe even against a Fearfighter."

"But not against another barrier cannon..." Lily finished. "Especially if it was tuned to interrupt this one."

"Which would require them knowing the frequency, which would require someone to talk or..."

"Do me a favor." Lily looked at her. "Turn it off and set it to full charge for an attack. We both know they're not going to hold, but if we can do some damage in the meantime, it might buy us a bit more time in the end."

Amy bit her lip. "I really REALLY don't think that's a good idea Lily. We don't know when or where things are going to..."

"Better we have it stored now and not regret it later. Besides, we'll have an evacuation plan ready." Lily began to smile, posture straightening for the first time in a while. "I think Johnnie would be proud of this one."

With no small amount of conflict, Amy finally nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess you might be right." She walked over to the nearby panel and pulled down the lever. "After all what is it the best defense is a good..."

The orb at the top hadn't even stopped glowing before it exploded.

* * *

Amy knew this part of the story. Tails knew this part of the story. The fall of Topia. Lily Maill's greatest failure.

Neither -remembered-.

Neither could.

* * *

"Hail Dark-prewoh." The Set didn't even get a single catchphrase out before the head was blown off. Amy could remember them from watching the serial with the boys. There they had been actors in dark pajamas with a few spikes added for menacing flavor. Here it was something else entirely. The bodies were almost like quicksilver, solid enough to stay on the ground but warping and fluid almost jiggling with each step, here they were almost shadows.

Physical shadows that quite thankfully could be hit by Sparks and if guns would work...

"Get back to the boys! I can hold them off from the bridge with..." Lily still had the gun raised as Amy swung.

The impact was glorious. The Set cracked as if it were a broken geode, making a dull thumping noise before sliding off and crashing the top half into the ground.

"What? Where..."

* * *

"DID THAT COME FROM?!" A pair of paws slammed down hard onto the typewriter's keyboard.

_There are many things about the designations which you are not aware._

"THIS ISN'T FAIR. THEY LIVE OR THEY DIE PLAYING BY MY RULES. MY RULES."

_This is no longer the world you knew. And those rules are not yours._

"Foxes that can fly. Creatures faster than the blasted wind itself, mallets out of nowhere." The figure's tongue clicked in disgust. "Where were THEY in everyday life?!"

* * *

**We hope you have a lovely holiday from all of us at Matrigold Manufacturing. While most of our products currently go the war effort against the Kukku, we hope that one day we can all truly enjoy peace on earth and goodwill to all. We hope you have responded to your Gift Letters from Matrigold and would like to remind you that even now, our domestic product line is coming back full force this new year.**

* * *

"Don't ask, it would take too much time." Amy tossed the mallet from paw to paw. "How many got in through the gate?"

"Looks like less than a dozen. Are all the barriers out?" Lily looked up only to curse as every orb on the surrounding pylon was now exhuming smoke.

"The militia should be able..."

There was nothing Amy could say though. There was no militia. There wasn't anyone else. There was background noise, there was fighting somewhere, SOMETHING was on fire, but those exact details didn't matter right now because it wasn't the scene. Tails was right, it was only when it was convenient that the universe filled things in.

"Right. They should hold our escape long enough. How far is it to the Rocket Harbor?"

"What about the boys?"

"They'll be fine."

The raccoon put a paw to flat to her head to help scout out the distance. "We could go down the main street, make it there in 15. But that would leave us open. We'll take the back alley."

But it was a universal truth. Here were two prime damsels in distress. Here they were isolated and alone in a maze of alleyways and back channels. It was all too easy, all too simple. Here were a dozen Sets and no way out.

They were going to die. Amy knew it because it had happened before and then again and again and again, watching everything rust, watching that maniac grow older and older and more insane and then again and again and again. For a moment that fear flashed before her eyes again, to sit there, to never age, to lose everything. But to die...would be a blessing in comparison. And this time she could move.

But no matter how many were felled, by Sparks, by hammer by fist at the end, there were on them, and each blow was a boulder.

It was surprising that nothing -broke- just hurt, but it didn't stop her from throwing up blood. Whatever was going on was shredding her internal organs, was dimming her vision. This really was death. It really was the end.

And somehow that was okay.

The final blow never came. It was heat instead, blinding heat and a large ZZRRRAP sound. Heh. Sonic would have loved...

Oh.

Before them, hovering in the air was most certainly NOT a cigar on strings. The body was squat not long, the barrier cannons protruding from the front, it was something out of a story set much later, but redesigns couldn't stop it from being what it was. The Knightheart.

The last Set burned away as her and Lily scrunched up against the wall, still fading as the net was lowered.

* * *

"Everything okay?"

Whatever that juice was had made things better. Probably was fortified with several vitamins and approved by Mother, but even that humor was lost on her as she looked up, Tails still looking worried.

"Yeah. We...we didn't...remember..."

"I didn't either. It doesn't matter. What about your bruises?"

"Against the healing properties of sponsorship?" A soft chuckle escaped Amy. "Probably set to heal. Not gonna die anymore."

"We should have gone with you. I should have..."

She shook her head and grinned. "You were there in the end."

"Yeah but..."

"Believe me, it's all that matters."

* * *

In the room opposite, juice still sitting in the cup, Lillian Maill sat straight up in bed, wide eyed, staring at the wall. It was over. No one had gotten out. No one was saved, there's was the only trail out.

He hadn't come back.

* * *

And that just left Sonic at the bridge, Tails joining him shortly after.

"Well..." Sonic wouldn't even look at the mess of smoke below them. "Now what?"

"Space." The fox pointed upwards. "Either we get a move on or we get ground into dust."

"What's out there? Nine more 'trials'? Nine more defeats?" Sonic didn't like being pensive. He knew where that lead, he knew what happened when you dropped that grin, but even now he just felt...

"Not everything is a defeat. We can make it on our..."

"No." Sonic shook his head. "We break this. We don't play by whatever rules they want. We need friends and we need allies. What's left on the planet?"

Tails thought for a second, grin slowly growing. "We could make a small detour. How do you feel about pirates?"

And somewhere they could swear they heard an organ sting.

* * *

**WILL OUR HEROES RECOVER FROM THE FALL OF TOPIA?**

**WILL THEY ESCAPE THE CLUTHES OF DARKMIND?**

**FIND OUT ON NEXT WEEK'S EPISODE OF CAPTAIN VULPES "THE STEEL CLOUDS"**


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